Lilliputians, e-books and Amazon

Is it me, or does this photo look like a casually dressed Lilliputian with an extra-big iPhone?

Just a first impression, but one I can’t shake. And if it occurred to me, I’m sure it occurred to scads of other people, too. Can’t be good. But time will tell with the iPad …

I’ll admit that I have e-reader envy. I still read books the old-fashioned way. But a deep wave of covetousness washes over me at airports when I see people getting cozy with their Kindles. It’s just a matter of time until I get one of my own.

But I already have regrets about the e-reader I will eventually buy. I love to scan the crowds at airports to see what people are reading, but e-readers are messing with my hobby.

And now the Kindle is temporarily off my e-reader list because of what happened between Amazon (which supplies all the titles available on the Kindle) and Macmillan Publishers.

Amazon has temporarily dropped all Macmillan titles — the publisher’s imprints include Farrar, Straus & Giroux, St. Martins Press and Henry Holt — because of a pricing dispute. At the moment, Macmillan titles are only available on Amazon.com through a third party.

Long story short, Macmillan wants Amazon to raise the prices of e-books. Selling e-books for $9.99, rather than $15.99, devalues the price of books, the publisher argues. (Read the full NYTimes story here.)

This is a problem that smells familiar. Years ago, newspapers started giving away content for free — or for next to nothing. And now look where we are.